Water-closet seat and cover hinge.



B. 0. TlLDEN. WATER CLOSET SEAT AND COVER HINGE.

A'PPLlCATION FiLED SEPT- IL 1917. v

Patented Dec. 25, 1917.

' ATTORNEY WITNESSES: C /ar/r M Gray. A E

UNITED STATES PATEN OFFTGE.

BERT O. TILDEN, OF TBEN'I'ON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN SANITARYWORKS, 0F TBEN TON, NEW J ER-SEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

WA ER-CLO E AND O R HINGE- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 17, 191-7. Serial No. 191,675.

To all whom it mayoonoern:

Be it known that I, BERT O. TILDEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Trenton, in the county of Mercer and State of New Jersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Water-Closet Seatand Cover Hinges, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in water-closet seat and coverhinges, and has for its object to provide a novel, simple and durablehinge mechanism of the class, for

pivotally supporting both the closet seat and cover, and wherein, owing.to the peculiar design and construction .of the parts of the hinge,quite a wide range for roughing in measurements is allowed. A furtherobject is to provide a combined hinge mechanism of the class, which isso. constructed and applied that when the seat and cover are lifted orswung upwardly away from the bowl, they will stand erect or vertical oftheir own weight, and wherein the weight of the cover is utilized forbalancing the seat, for preventing either of said parts fromaccidentally gravitating toward the bowl. And a further object isgenerally to improve and simplify the construction and operation ofcloset seat and cover hinges.

The various features and parts of the invention will be understood fromthe detailed description which follows, and by reference to theaccompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view ofwater-closet outfit, having my improved hinge mechanism applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same; showing by full and dotted linesthe closed and open positions of the seat and cover.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged broken side view; showing the cover and seat invertical position, and the seat counterbalanced by the cover.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged top-plan view of the hinge mechanism.

Fig. 5 i a vertical cross-section, taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 6 is a central longitudinal section taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 4:;showing a straight post associated with the hinge mechanism.

Fig. 7 is a rear elevation of the seat, cover and hinge.

In the drawing, 2 represents the closet lugs.

metallic leaf 7, which is preferably secured to the underside of theseat by screws 8, the said leaf having two similar rearwardly pro.-

"ectin arms 9 said arms terminatin in spaced upright cylindrical lugs orportions 10, which support a horizontal transversely arranged rod 11,the latter passing through the lugs 10 and rigid and movable with said12 represents similar hinge-posts, which are supported in spacedrelation bythe rearwardly projecting portion 2' of the bowl, said postshaving ball-like tops 13 which are perforated to pivotally receive therod 11. The posts 12 have flanges 14, which rest upon the bowl, andbelow said flanges extend threaded stems 15, which pass through suitableperforations in the ledge 2- of the bowl. The posts 12 are held rigidlyin place by nuts 16, which engage the underside of the ledge 2'.

The cover 6 is provided with a hinge mechanism comprising separateleaves 17, which are fastened to the underside of the cover by screws17, and said leaves have rearwardly projecting arms 18, the latterprovided with trunnions 19, which pivot in sockets 19 located near thefree ends of the upright lugs 10 (see Fig. 5). By this construction, thecover may be raised from the horizontal to the vertical positionindependently of the seat by the trunnions 19 turning in the sockets 19.And both the seat and cover may be elevated from the full to the dottedline positions shown in Fig. 2,-or from the dotted to the full lineposition shown in Fig. 3, by the pintle rod 11 turning in the heads 13of the post 12. The hinge members comprising the arms and lugs 910 aresubstantially L- shaped or like bell-cranks, which are pivotedsubstantially on the center 11 near the point of the angle of saidmembers. As ex plained, the seat 5 is mounted on the arms 9 with itslongitudinal axis A, in line with the axis of the pivot 11. The cover 6is dis posed normally parallel to the seat and its hinge members 1718are disposed parallel to the arms 9 of the said hinge. This disposes thepivot for the cover near the free Patented Dec. 25, 1917. I

ends of the arms 10. Therefore, when the seat and cover are raised tothe vertical position shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the lugs 10 are tiltedbackwardly into substantially horizontal position, and the entire weightof the cover is shifted rearwardly or toward the tank 3, a sufficientdistance from the center of pintle 11 to positively overcome the weightof the seat, and the tendency of both seat and cover to gravitate towardthe bowl 2 is obviated. As a matter of fact, this counterbalancing is somarked that the seat and cover will not fall even though they lackseveral degrees of being raised to the true vertical position (seedotted lines w in Fig. 2). These features are important in case theplumber makes a mistake in his roughing in measurements and is obligedto set the closet bowl closer to the tank than planned. The off-setposts 12 tend to position the main center 11 a sufficient distance fromthe tank, even though an error in the roughing in has been made, toallow the seat and cover to be raised to substantially true verticalposition, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, where said parts will remain untillowered by the user of the closet.

In Fig. 6, I have. shown a straight post 12, which may be substitutedfor the offset post 12 for a still closer roughing in. Either of saidposts may be used interchangeably without requiring any alterations inthe rest of the hinge mechanism.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A combined closet seat and cover hinge, comprising a leaf adapted forsupporting a closet seat, said leaf having spaced L-shaped arms, apintle rod passing through said arms substantially on the line of thelongitudinal axis of said seat, similar independent leaves supporting acover, said leaves having arms provided with trunnions which pivot insockets in said L-shaped arms, the axis of said trunnions being parallelto said pintle rod, and a pair of posts having perforated heads topivotally receive said pintle rod.

2. A combined closet seat and cover hinge, comprising a pair of L-shapedhinge members adapted to support a seat, a rod connecting said members,said rod disposed in the line of the longitudinal axis of said seat, thecorresponding free ends of said members having sockets, a pair of hingeelements adapted to support a cover normally parallel to the seat, saidhinge elements provided with alining trunnions which are journaled insaid sockets, and means for pivotally securing said hinge members to acloset bowl.

3. A combined closet seat and cover hinge, including a pair ofbell-crank hinge members, corresponding arms of said members supportinga seat, and corresponding arms of said members being rigidly connectedby a pintle rod disposed near the angle of said members, the latter armshaving sockets near the free ends thereof, and a pair of hinge elementsadapted to support a cover, said hinge elements having trunnions facingin opposite directions and engaging said sockets.

4. The combination with a closet bowl and a movable seat and cover, of aseat and cover hinge mechanism comprising a leaf having two L-shapedmembers, a rod passing through both of said members near the angle ofand movable with said US, the corresponding free arms of said membersprovided with sockets facing each other, a pair of binge elements, oneend of said elements secured to the cover, the opposite end of saidelements having trunnions pivoting in said sockets, and a pair of postsmounted on the closet bowl and pivotally supporting said rod.

5. The combination with a closet bowl and a movable seat and cover, of ahinge mechanism for the seat comprising a leaf having two-shapedmembers, a rod for rigidly connecting said members together, said roddisposed near the angle of said members, a pair of hinge elements forsupporting said cover, said elements having trunnions adapted to engagesockets near the free ends of said members for holdin the cover inposition to counterbalance sai seat when the said parts are raised fromthe horizontal to the vertical position.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

BERT O. TILDEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

